The Monkey's Paw

Norman Lee takes W. W. Jacobs' classic short story and transforms it into a second feature.

One of the strengths of the short story is that it is a short story; there is no fat on it, leaving the reader to put the real horror into the story: the failure of the first wish; the hint at what it is knocking, unseen, at the door; the tragic necessity of the third wish. It all takes place in the reader's imagination, the elaborations of what the reader thinks is terrifying. Instead, in order to bring this to an hour's length, there is effectively, a forty-minute prologue; first we are introduced to a seller of curios. Then we see various wares; then the monkey's paw, and finally, the story. Lee paces it very well, and adds a platitudinous epilogue, but the story, although still interesting, is weakened. With Milton Rosmer, Megs Jenkins, and a lot of art direction by Victor Hembrow and George Ward.

A man comes to the Trelawne shop to obtain a painting and one of the items he offers in the trade is a severed monkey's paw. One worker, a dishonest sort named Kelly, at the shop knows the secret of the monkey's paw, that it will grant three wishes for its owner, but the wishes will only bring tragedy for the owner. Trelawne later trades the painting for the paw. He later finds out that he owns 200 pounds to his bookmaker and as a last resort uses the paw to wish for the money. He gets the money but at cost of his son's life when he was killed in a motorcycle race and was given the 200 pounds, the purse for the race. The Trelawnes feel the guilt over the loss of their son, but Mrs. Trelawne knows there are two wishes left, and uses one to wish they here son returns from his grave. Despite the obvious low budget, this film succeeds in telling the story with excellent atmosphere, cinematography, acting, & directing. It does start off slow with establishing characters and settings, but after Kelly tells the story of the paw, it is able to flow better in its story telling. The ending of the film where Mrs. Trelawne uses her wish is amazing to look at despite sounding stagey. Thankfully the film doesn't settle into the obvious generic answer to the story. Rating, 7 out of 10.

I read the review of the English production. It matches one which was filmed for the TV series, LIGHTS OUT as well as the one for SUSPENSE. This story is the reason that so many short horror and mystery stories broadcast on radio in the 1940's should be brought back by the mega film producers of today.

A fine half hour show, broadcast weekly would spellbind their audiences. Hitchcock's, "Hands of Mr. Ottermole" and "Banquo's Chair" were this kind of remake. The fabulous, "Lamb for the Slaughter" was great, but it made murder into a light comedy fantasy.

No major staging, no great sets, just ordinary actors in fear and terror trying to get some advantage from this curious monkey's paw was so powerful. The classic radio show and subsequent motion picture 'Sorry, Wrong Number" should make people see the power of the short story.

Those jokes about three wishes from a genie in a bottle make light of the potential terror from getting what you wish for, with an amulet made from a monkey's paw.

A once-in-a-lifetime cast includes late appearances by Milton Rosmer and Hay Petrie (the former soon retired and the latter soon died) and early ones by Sydney 'Taffler' (sic) and Alfie Bass. A young Megs Jenkins is ironically made up to look older here than she did in the seventies; while Michael Martin Harvey, who here plays your friendly neighbourhood poacher, was promoted by director Norman Lee the following year to the lead in 'The Case of Charles Peace'.

It looks good, and passes it's short running time agreeably enough. But as several previous reviewers have already noted devotes very little time to W.W.Jacobs' spine-chilling short story of 1902 itself (beautifully parodied in 2005 in the 'South Park' episode 'Marjorine'), clutters up the story with a gratuitous flashback structure; and even adds a little coda having at last given us the famous final act, just in case we'd found it all a bit too scary!

Minor British chiller about a monkeys' paw talisman that can grant three wishes but comes with a heavy price. Just watched it on the channel Talking Pictures. It is very crackly and the print looks older than 1948 but that does add a certain element of charm. Despite it's short running time the first 30 minutes do drag somewhat, however it does build to a quite impressively eerie climax. I recognized Meg Jenkins, who starred in the fantastic Wurzel Gummidge kid's TV series some 30 or so years later. Also filmed in 2013, which wasn't a bad effort either.